Village Board discusses how to encourage business growth
By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
When it comes to letting the rest of the world know about East Troy and what it has to offer, the question of what is the best way to do that is at the forefront.
At Oct. 5 East Troy Village Board meeting, the trustees discussed how to get the word out with the help of the East Troy Community Development Alliance and the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance.
WCEDA Executive Director Derek D’ Auria and ETCDA President Paul Nyffler updated the board members of the ETCDA’s progress in recent months and their plans for the future.
D’Auria told the board there had been multiple meetings with area businesses such as Legacy Funeral Services, Wisconsin Precision and Main Street Motors to see how the
ETCDA might be able to assist with possible expansions or other needs the companies might have.
The ETCDA has also been working on brochures to highlight East Troy’s assets like the airport, village square and business park.
Trustee Dusty Stanford said he liked how the brochures looked and wanted to know how they were being distributed.
D’Auria and Nyffler said the brochures weren’t quite finished yet, but when they were, they would be available through the ETCDA’s website. Stanford said he thought they could be distributed at trade shows and the like to get the word out about what East Troy has to offer better.
Nyffler said having the brochures on the website were cost effective, especially in the digital age, and that mass mailings and direct marketing would be “cost prohibitive.”
The matter of funding for the ETCDA came up at the Sept. 28 Village Board meeting during the budget talks when Stanford said he was okay with the $10,000 being budgeted for this year, but wanted more information on a regular basis on what the ETCDA was doing. Trustee Linda Kaplan reminded Stanford last week that the board would be updated on just that at this week’s meeting.
Stanford said last week, he wasn’t sure he would support continuing to fund the ETCDA next year if real progress wasn’t made.
D’Auria and Nyffler spoke of other things in the works with the alliances and attracting/retaining businesses to East Troy. Nyffler said when they first started the ETCDA had been focused a lot on the “big external” with attracting new business, but that over the last couple of meetings they had begun to intensify their efforts to also retain local businesses and do what they could to encourage expansion.
“Balance is more important than trying to grab one of those big companies,” Nyffler said.
Connect Communities
D’Auria said one of the exciting things to happen in recent months was the ETCDA being accepted into the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Connect Communities program over the summer.
The program provides access to resources and training to help downtown organizations pursue revitalization and redevelopment efforts. It is part of the Wisconsin Main Street program.
The ETCDA is looking for volunteers to help out in the new program. There will be a Connect Communities downtown advocacy meeting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Ivan’s on the Square, 2087 Division St.
The public and prospective volunteers are encouraged to attend the informational meeting.
New on the force
The Village Board approved the hiring of a new, part-time police officer Monday night.
Michael J. Zens, 24, was added to the Police Department at the request of Police Chief Alan Boyes.
Zens lives in Mukwonago with his fiancée and their son. He graduated from Waukesha Catholic Memorial High School in 2009 and attended Waukesha County Technical College for Criminal Justice. He graduated from the Law Enforcement Training Academy at Waukesha County Technical College in 2014.
Zens works as a part-time police officer with the Town of Delavan Police Department and he also works part-time as a security officer for Apollo International in Hartland.
